39229-106263 EdRev NL.indd 1 3/23/11 10:48 AM 39229-106263 EdRev NL.indd 2 3/23/11 10:48 AM The Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) was founded in 1989 by Jerry Mintz. AERO is a branch of the School of Living, a non-profit organization founded in Contents 1934 by Ralph Borsodi. AERO’s goal is to advance student- BEING THERE driven, learner-centered approaches to education. AERO is with Jerry Mintz. page 2 considered by many to be the primary hub of communica- FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK tions and support for educational alternatives around the by Ron Miller. page 3 world. Education Alternatives include, but are not limited to, Montessori, Waldorf (Steiner), Public Choice and At-Risk, FEATURED ARTICLES Democratic, Homeschool, Open, Charter, Free, Sudbury, The World Becomes What You Teach Holistic, Virtual, Magnet, Early Childhood, Reggio Emilia, by Zoe Weil . page 4 Indigo, Krishnamurti, Quaker, Libertarian, Independent, At the Least, Do No Harm: A Polemic Against Schooling Progressive, Community, Cooperative, and Unschooling. One by John Taylor Gatto . page 6 of AERO’s areas of expertise is democratic process and demo- “You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train”: cratic education, but equally important is the networking of Reflecting on What It Means to Educate Students to all forms of educational alternatives. It is through our work Become Democratic, Global Citizens in the 21st Century and mission that we hope to create an education revolution. by Dave Lehman . page 9 AERO’s mission is to help create an education revolution to Bringing Democracy to Education make student-centered alternatives available to everyone. by Isaac Graves. page 13 Towards this end, AERO provides information, resources and John Holt’s Eureka Moment: The Birth of the guidance to families, schools and organizations regarding their Home Education Movement–1972–Mexico educational choices. AERO disseminates information interna- by Tunya Audain. page 16 tionally on topics such as: homeschooling, public and private Alternative Education in Turkey alternative schools, and charter schools. AERO’s long-term by Eylem Korkmaz and Sıdıka Çalışkan Kayaöz . page 18 goal is to become a more effective catalyst for educational Parents are People, Too change by providing books, magazines, conferences, online by Michele Beach . page 21 courses, consultations, support groups, and organizational What Should Education Be If Adolescence is the information and seminars in the field of alternative education. Next Step in Human Evolution? by David Marshak . page 25 Empowering Youth to Pursue Emancipation by Joel Lehi Organista . page 28 Awareness Through the Body 417 Roslyn Road, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577-2620 by Margo MacLeod and Heidi Watts . page 31 ISSN#: 110679219 News Reports . page 34 Phone: 516-621-2195 / 800-769-4171 Fax: 516-625-3257 Book Reviews. page 37 Email: [email protected] Website: www.EducationRevolution.org AERO Advisory Board Find a School: www.EducationFinder.net Alexander Adamsky, Mary Addams, Chris Balch, Fred Bay, Pa- AERO Executive Director: Jerry Mintz trice Creve, Patrick Farenga, John Taylor Gatto, Herb Goldstein, Education Revolution Editor: Ron Miller Dan Greenberg, Ken Jacobson, Jeffrey Kane, Albert Lamb, Dave Outreach Coordinator: Isaac Graves Lehman, Mary Leue, Ron Miller, Ann Peery, John Potter, Mary Administrative Assistant: Christy Lochary Anne Raywid, Jon Thoreau Scott, Tim Seldin, Elina Sheppel, Education in the News Editors: Carol Morley & Ron Miller Andy Smallman, Nick Stanton, Corinne Steele. Printer: Brenneman Printing Inc., Lancaster, PA Cover design by Josh Cook Education Revolution 1 39229-106263 EdRev NL.indd 1 3/23/11 10:48 AM Being There By Jerry Mintz rom February 6th to 11th I was brought to Puerto Rico the staff have of hugging every student and staff member. It for some intense consultations by Nuestra Escuela. While creates a very positive tone for the day. I started out by having FI was there I visited six schools in 4 1/2 days and met with a long discussion with students and staff from the school. They committees that are organizing the International Democratic emphasized how important the initial three-day retreat is for Education Conference in 2012. I helped start democratic new students. Leadership students participate along with staff process in two schools, started three table tennis programs and members. I then gave a table tennis workshop, teaching about gave a public talk. It was a very busy week! I told my host, 20 students in two hours to start off their table tennis program. Justo Méndez Arámburu, I wanted to work hard and he took I then met with staff members and had other meetings. me seriously. People were waiting for me at 9 PM for my first On the second day I went to an even rougher area to see meeting before I had even put my bags in the hotel room! another branch of the school in Loiza, the first school the The first school I visited was the original Nuestra Escuela government had given up on and handed to Justo. It is a major started by Justo, now in Caguas, just outside the capital of gang area. Justo told me that he made the mistake of starting San Juan. The school is for dropouts and students who had off with the students from one gang in the morning and the previously had great difficulty in school. It is a private school but other in the afternoon. Then one day a student from one gang planned to come over to kill a student in the other one. When Justo heard about this he closed the school. The students begged him to reopen it, but he said he wouldn’t unless the group was mixed and the gangs pledged to leave the school alone. An agreement was made with the gangs and he reopened the school. At that school I met with a dozen students. In our discussion they decided that they wanted to establish democratic process at the school. So we went through the establishment of the process over the next hour. Justo, who was at the meeting, was amazed. He said he had tried to establish that process before but without success. The first meetings have already taken place. Justo then asked me to go through the same process with the school in Caguas. As a result of this they have established a democratic meeting. We have the meeting on DVD for people would like to see it. On Wednesday I visited a public Montessori school, established by an amazing woman who wanted to make this kind of learner centered education available to poor children. They are doing a great job but are struggling with contracts with the government to educate the students. Justo’s the imposition of standardized testing which is antithetical to school has been so successful that the education department has their philosophy. This brought home to me the need for us given Justo four other schools that they gave up on. to establish our own alternative standards. I did get to meet The inspiration to Justo to start the school was his the founder who is working on establishing 20 more similar daughter who was killed in a car accident at the age of 15. programs. I told her about the Consortium schools in New In a dream about her, she said they had to start a school for York State that have been able to have the standardized tests students who had few options. Although others in his family waived. She said she would follow up on that. were in education he had not previously been in the field. So he On Thursday I visited Espacio A, a democratic free started the school several years ago with his wife as his partner. school which was started by one of our school starters, Ginny Graduation, unlike other schools, is on his daughter’s birthday Marxuach. At Espacio A, we showed the Summerhill Drama, in September. The students know why. and I helped establish a table tennis program, teaching about The first thing that struck me was the routine Justo and half the students. In the evening we had a very nice turnout for 2 The Magazine of Educational Alternatives 39229-106263 EdRev NL.indd 2 3/23/11 10:48 AM F R O M T H E I hope my work has provided encouragement and a foundation for a new generation of educational revolutionaries to address the huge challenges that face our increasingly complex and troubled world. I am encouraged Editor’s Desk by the new efforts and organizations that are rising among by Ron Miller younger activists. The vision of a human-scale, life-affirming, democratic, ecologically rooted and open-hearted education remains alive. I hope this next generation of visionaries will elcome to this double-length issue of Education remember that you stand on the shoulders of moral heroes Revolution. When I announced my decision to who were not afraid to question the educational and cultural Wretire a few months ago, my AERO colleagues assumptions of their times—Rousseau and Pestalozzi, Jerry Mintz and Isaac Graves suggested that we close Froebel and Alcott, Montessori and Steiner, Dewey, Ferrer, this chapter of the magazine’s life with a grand finale. Holt—and so many others. I hope you will study and So the magazine is packed with provocative writings remain rooted in this brilliant legacy. from many of the leading voices in the educational By the time you are reading this I will be the proprietor alternatives community, as well as those of young of Shiretown Books, a charming little shop in the delightful activists (including Isaac himself) and other good folks Vermont town of Woodstock.